Abstract
Steviol glycosides are non-caloric sweeteners found in high concentrations in the leaves of the Paraguayan perennial herb S. rebaudiana rebaudiana. In the present study, an attempt has been made to analyze promoter regions of SG-related biosynthesis genes of S. rebaudiana rebaudiana and Helianthus annuus. The close relationship between H. annuus, S. rebaudiana, and the SGs biosynthesis genes in the H. annuus genome provides a remarkable opportunity for SGs production in the H. annuus leaves. Several cis-acting regulatory elements associated with plant development, plant hormonal regulation, and stress response were identified and found in varying frequencies within the two kbp of 5′ regulatory regions, including A-box, MYB, MSB, ABRE, LTR, ERE, STRE, ABA, ARE, DRE, MBSI, TC-RICH REPEATS, WUN-MOTIF, MYC, MYB. The number of cis-elements in both plants is equal. However, S. rebaudiana's UGT genes have significantly more elements than H. annuus. These results suggest that the lack of H. annuus SGs is related to the plant's cis-elements of UGT genes. This finding indicates the potential cis-acting regulatory factors involved in the expression and regulation of the SG gene in H. annuus and S. rebaudiana during cellular development or environmental stress situations. Further, tandem repeats and CPG islands were detected in the promoter regions. RT-PCR analysis of seven SG biosynthesis key genes, including CDPS, KS, KO, KAH, and three glucosyltransferases, namely UGT85C2, UGT74G1, and UGT76G1, revealed that only KS and KO genes are expressed in H. annuus leaves. Futuristically, this data will be a helpful resource for upgrading H. annuus leaves to S. rebaudiana sweeteners producers and understanding the regulation of SG-related genes.
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Alireza S. Tehranian carried out the experiment, laboratory analyses, statistical analysis and wrote the manuscript. Hossein Askari conceived the original idea and supervised the project.
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Tehranian, A.S., Askari, H. In silico analysis of steviol glycoside biosynthesis related genes of Helianthus annuus shows its potential for sweetener production. Genet Resour Crop Evol 70, 1363–1375 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-022-01504-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-022-01504-5